Roles & Responsibilities¶

Overview¶

This document defines the roles, responsibilities, and accountability framework for data governance at Nissan North America (NNA).
Clear role definitions ensure ownership, accountability, and effective execution of governance policies, processes, and tools.

Key Principles¶

Separation of Duties: Distinguish between decision-making, operational, and oversight responsibilities.
Accountability: Assign a clear owner for each data domain and governance process.
Collaboration: Promote cross-functional collaboration between business, IT, and compliance teams.
Scalability: Roles are defined for local (US) operations and scalable to regional adoption (North and South America).
Flexibility: Roles adapt based on organizational changes and technology adoption.

Governance Roles¶

Role	Description	Responsibilities	Example Tools / Artifacts
Governance Council / Data Steering Committee	Executive-level oversight body	Approves policies, prioritizes initiatives, monitors KPI progress, manages escalations	Council charters, dashboards, executive reports
Chief Data Officer (CDO)	Executive sponsor for data governance	Provides strategic direction, champions governance initiatives, ensures funding	Strategic plans, council presentations
Data Owners	Business-domain leaders accountable for data	Define data policies, approve classification, validate quality, ensure compliance	Data dictionaries, business glossaries, quality dashboards
Data Stewards	Operational managers responsible for day-to-day data quality	Monitor, maintain, and improve data; resolve issues; enforce SOPs	Data catalogs, MDM tools, quality reports
IT / System Administrators	Technology custodians	Implement governance tools, manage system configurations, integrate platforms	Ataccama, Salesforce, ERP, data pipelines
Compliance / Audit Teams	Oversight and verification	Ensure regulatory adherence, perform audits, report findings	Audit reports, compliance dashboards
Change Management Lead	Adoption and training coordinator	Develop training, communicate updates, manage adoption campaigns	Training materials, newsletters, adoption metrics
Business Users / Data Consumers	End users of governed data	Follow policies, provide feedback, report issues	Dashboards, reports, self-service tools

RACI Matrix Example¶

Process / Activity	Governance Council	CDO	Data Owner	Data Steward	IT/Admin	Compliance	Users
Define Governance Policies	A	C	R	I	I	C	I
Data Classification	C	I	R	A	I	C	I
Data Quality Monitoring	I	I	A	R	C	I	I
MDM System Administration	I	I	C	I	R	I	I
Compliance Reporting	I	I	C	I	I	R	I
Training & Adoption	C	I	A	R	I	I	I
Issue Escalation	R	C	A	R	I	C	I

Legend:
- R = Responsible (executes the work)
- A = Accountable (owns the outcome)
- C = Consulted (provides input)
- I = Informed (kept updated)

Visual Representation¶

flowchart LR
    A[Governance Council / Data Steering Committee] --> B[CDO]
    B --> C[Data Owners]
    C --> D[Data Stewards]
    D --> E[Business Users / Data Consumers]
    B --> F[IT / System Administrators]
    A --> G[Compliance / Audit Teams]
    B --> H[Change Management Lead]